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Time for more 2016: leap second will be added to year’s end

A tiny bit more time

CAN’T get enough of 2016? You’re in luck. Time lords at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) have announced that an extra second will be added to the end of this year. Clocks will read 23:59:60 on 31 December.

“If time is not adjusted, we will be 2 to 3 minutes out of sync with the position of the sun by 2100“

Such leap seconds are occasionally needed to ensure that Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official measure of time, stays in sync with changes in Earth’s rotation. UTC is defined using atomic clocks, which maintain a precise tick thanks to the consistent frequency of microwaves released by certain atoms. A day should be 86,400 atomic seconds, but Earth’s rotation isn’t quite this constant.

The IERS monitors its changes, and if Earth’s spin is more than 0.9 seconds fast or slow, announces the need for a leap second. Since 1972, a total of 26 seconds have been added.

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There have been calls for leap seconds to abolished as they can play havoc with computer systems. If this happens, time will drift away from the position of the sun in the sky. By the year 2100, we will be 2 to 3 minutes out of sync with the sun, and by 2700, about 30 minutes out.

Timekeepers were due to decide the future of leap seconds in November last year, but have postponed this until 2023. To be fair, they literally have all the time in the world.